Stories

Burying the Sailor from a Faraway Land

Sound:

Well, it seems that a sailor had - that a sailor's body had been washed
up on the shore, apparently, according to Griffiths, somewhere in Cardiganshire.
And of course he was a stranger. And, the Welsh being, typically, very ready
to help, the people of the area made a collection so he could be buried. And
as it happened, on the day of the funeral, the clergyman was taken ill, and
there was no-one to take the service. They didn't really know what to do. And
one of the deacons said to the carpenter:

'He's a stranger, nobody here is going to take offence. He hasn't any relatives
here. You say something.'
And the carpenter looked down at the coffin and said:

TRANSLATION:
'You're a man from a faraway land
If the clergyman were here, you'd be no better off.
Lie [here] now with our forefathers,
When they rise up, you rise up too!'

In AD 75, the Romans built a fortress at Caerleon that would guard the region for over 200 years. Today at the National Roman Legion Museum you can learn what made the Romans a formidable force and how life wouldn't be the same without them.